Peds, bomberos, and a health fair

Kenzie found a friend at the Peds hospital! This little baby girl was so scared of us at first, but she slowly warmed up to Kenzie. By the end, she was almost crying when we had to leave. 

Listening to this patient's itty-bitty lungs

This is my friend, Leticia. We communicated over email before I even got there, setting up presentations and clinicals. It was so fun to finally meet my pen pal. She was so kind and let us go all over the pediatrics hospital. 

I got to visit my friend, Michael, again! I brought him some colored pencils and a drawing book to help keep him occupied during his month-long stay. I was so sad to say goodbye to him. 

It was this cute little patient's birthday so we all sang and a volunteer brought a big cake!

Thumb wars

This is another favorite patient of mine. Wilson is 13 years old and so sweet. He loved just talking to the nursing students and walking around. He had just had open-heart surgery but he was still so happy. 

Bomberos


After clinical at the pediatric hospital, we all jumped in a van to go teach the firemen (bomberos)! Susie is our amazing trauma/ER nurse and taught them about mechanisms of injury and how to treat them. 

Our alert and happy bunch didn't last long..

Feria de Salud


At the health fair we put on, I was assign to the guaderia (nursery), which means I got to babysit all the ninos. Kinda crazy, kinda fun.

Last day at Sotomayor

This was my last group to take to Sotomayor. We got to see some births and hold babies so everyone was happy!  

Showing off their capri scrubs

I love this picture. One basinet, five babies. 

Don't mind if I do shove my IV in your face 

Tender photo of the day award goes to Ty. So cute, right?

This picture is Ty and I with a sweet volunteer at the hospital. She comes once a week to visit the laboring women and teach the ones that are in postpartum. She said she teaches them how to show love to their babies, how to care for them, and how to breastfeed. I'm so glad they have started this program with volunteers. She was such a sweet lady and I'm sure the women love having her around. Another cool thing we learned was that the hospital will give the women 75% off their hospital care if they attend all their prenatal appointments. I love this idea because many of the women never come in and have complications that could be prevented. It's fun to hear of new things the hospital system is trying to provide better care. 

Cerro Santa Ana

Sunday afternoon we hiked up my favorite hill- Cerro Santa Ana. It is a little hill overlooking the river covered with colorful houses. On top, there is a church and a lighthouse. It was a sweaty walk in the humidity but it was worth it. 

And afterwards, we treated ourselves to our favorite ice cream at Fragola's :)

Las Playas

Saturday we finally took a day to rest. So we headed to the beach! We went to a resort called "Oceans" in Las Playas. We played in the beach, swam, at tons of good food, and played beach volleyball. I was so happy to get to go to the beach. 

Virgen pina coladas for all the BYU cougars :)

Ceviche snack

They served us dinner. Not one, but three slabs of different meats 

Mi casa es su casa

Friday we got to go into the community to build a house with Hogar de Cristo. Once we got done with digging the holes, I wasn't much help with the building. Most of the time I just played photographer. 


So here's a bumload of photos.

 This is the whole group of volunteers and a few from the family. Below we start digging the holes for the posts! 

 Tiffany was a little tired already :)

This is one of the family's sons. Check out his shirt- Bob Esonja!! I love Sponge Bob. Also, I asked if I could take a picture of his ducks in their crate. He proceeds to grab not one, but all three of the rather nasty ducks in his arms. I am not a fan of birds in the first place, and these were no exception. They were having duck diarrhea everywhere... cute, right?

Then Erika proceeds to pet and hold the ducks too. So disturbing but in a strange way I was kinda proud of her.

Putting up the first posts!

 Starting the platform for the floor

Up to start the floor

Hammering down the floor

Picture break after we finished the floor

Walls going up!

Sunscreen fail. 

This is our amazing builder, Evan, who actually built the house :)

The family in front of their new house and Genesis checking out the window

 

The family waving goodbye! 

Building the house was exhausting but so fun. The family was so appreciative. Their house had been damaged by the heavy rain Ecuador had this spring. Even though I didn't do most of the building, it is really satisfying to start with a plot of land and leave the family with a brand new house. This was one of my favorite days!